MakeUseOf » Image Search

How Image Search Engines Work [MakeUseOf Explains]

Matt Smith — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:31:39 +0000

These days you don’t have to limit your search to just websites. Many other forms of content are easy to find, including images. No matter what you’re looking for, an image is (for better or worse) just one image search away.

You may wonder, however, how image search works. How are images sorted and classified, making it possible to find tens or hundreds of relevant results? Perhaps you’re just curious, or perhaps you run a site and want to know so you can improve your own ranking. In either case, taking a deeper look could be helpful.

Old Fashioned Text

Some people assume that image search is conducted via fancy algorithms that determine what an image is about and then index it. I know that’s where I started. As it turns out, however, old fashioned text is one of the most important factors in an image’s ranking.

More specifically, the file name matters. Go ahead – do an image search. What do the top results have in common? Almost invariably, it’s a portion of their file name. Most of the top results for “pizza” have the word pizza in the file name.

That might seem obvious. But actually, it’s not. Most digital photographs, for example, will start life with a file name like “1020302.jpg.” It’s only later that they’re re-named. For webmasters, ensuring that a relevant file name is given to an image is just as basic and important as making sure that a webpage’s keyword appears in that page’s metadata title and/or description. But it’s not automatic. It takes constant effort.

Context Matters

Of course, search engines can’t just rely on file names. If that were the case, everyone would just name photographs of their dog something like “celebritywifeswap.png” and call it a day.

Search needs to go a bit deeper to make sure that the image, whatever its file name, is actually relevant to a given keyword. And to do that, the search engine relies on data found on the webpage the image is located. After all, images are usually used in support for text content, so that content can provide information about what the image represents. What this means is that, just as with text content, image search looks for patterns, and rewards websites that can create them. Sticking a picture in a place that’s relevant will increase its chances.

This seems a bit too obvious once you think about it, but it’s really no different from normal web search. There, websites that revolve around a common theme are almost always rewarded, while those with no focus are often penalized. Even having an appropriate URL can be a big deal.

Classification & Clustering

Now we get to the interesting stuff.

Once an image search engine has crawled an image, looked at its file name, and looked at the content surrounding it, it probably has a good idea what the image is about. People searching for an image by keyword can find what they’re looking for most of the time based on only file name and context, both of which have nothing to do with the content of the image at all.

Yet the content of the image does matter. What do you do if you want to search for pictures of Luke Skywalker in Star Wars? You could just type in “luke skywalker” and find a lot of options. You’ll find pictures of Luke Skywalker by himself, pictures of him doing things, pictures of him posing, pictures of the actor who played Luke in various settings at various ages, movie posters, and even fan art.

That’s where classification comes in. Image search engines analyze an image and ask some basic questions about it. Is there a face? What colors are used, and how frequently? What’s the resolution? Searchers can then narrow down their search based on this information, and some services (including Google Image Search) let users search by uploading an image.

Usually search is able to find a number of similar options, though busy and colorful images tend to throw a wrench in the works. Despite what you may have heard about advanced facial recognition techniques and other such technology, wide-scale image classification still seems to be a tricky business that doesn’t always generate the right results.

Another technique that assists users is clustering. This is an attempt to group together images that are similar in content. When you search using Google or Bing, for example, you will find a number of optional searchers at the top of the interface. In our Luke Skywalker example these end being things like “luke skywalker wallpaper” and “luke skywalker cartoon.” Some search engines, like Bing, even offer a list of related characters if your search related to a character from a popular movie.

As a webmaster, this is something that is largely out of your hands. All you can do is attempt to provide high-quality images that offer clear content. A busy picture with a lot going on will be harder to classify and cluster than one that is relatively simple, focusing on only one object or face.

Conclusion

Image search is interesting, but probably not as cutting-edge as some suspect. The algorithms used, though never precisely relayed to the public, obviously place a priority on simple information.

If you’re a user of image search and wondering if there’s some trick to getting the most out of it – well, there’s really not. The same techniques that you’d use to search for a webpage are usually applicable to images. Webmasters also will find this true when trying to rank images. Just as with web search, clarity, specificity and quality are important.

6 Free Websites For Public Domain Images & Free Stock Photos

Tina Sieber — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 23:31:06 +0000

Public Domain refers to material that is ‘publicly available’ and not covered by intellectual property or copyrights. In today’s media, where visual art is abundant, there is a high demand for images, for example for webdesign projects. As a consequence, there are many stock photography websites where artists can sell their photographs or image designs. There are, however, also resources that feature royalty free stock photos that are in the public domain.

Public Domain Pictures

This page is a repository for public domain images. It is maintained solely by its users, who can upload and download images for free. Some photos require a model or property release, when used commercially. This, however, is a general requirement for photos. Material can easily be browsed by various categories, including professional or seasonal photos. Image tags allow an easy search.

The page for each image contains detailed information about the license, the camera used to take it, and links to the artist. The website cleverly supports the creators by offering a premium download and the option to buy the artist a coffee.

Wikimedia Commons

Most images used on Wikipedia are part of the Wikimedia Commons, a database of over 10 million freely usable media files, including public domain images. Recently, for example, the Russian International News Agency has donated 100 historical photographs from their archives. Media files can be surfed by topic, location, type, author, license, and source. Each of these categories has subcategories, to refine the search. You can also search files by tags.

The dedicated page for each features details about the item, including the permission for use and any licenses associated with the file. For most media files you will find that the copyright has simply expired and it has thus moved to the public domain.

Image After

Image After describes itself as the raw base for your creativity. The images provided on this page all underline the same terms of use, which basically are that you can use the images for anything, other than building a page that is in direct competition with Image After.

You can simply search images or use the thorough options, which allows you to sort an image category for example by size, then filter it by color. You can also search based on image tags.

Public Domain Photos

The 5,000 photos and 8,000 free clip arts on this page can be used for any purpose, including commercial. The photos are typically provided in a single high resolution. They are tagged and sorted into categories, offering you two ways to easily find them.

Stock.XCHNG

This resource for free stock photos has been so popular that not only have we mentioned it multiple times on MakeUseOf, it was also recently acquired by Getty Images.

Stock.XCHNG presently contains almost 400,000 photos and many of them are royalty free with no further usage restrictions. You can quickly view the restrictions in the availability field underneath the respective image. Some artists request to be notified or credited, others only require standard restrictions, which are defined by the Stock.XCHNG.

To download material you have to sign up with Stock.XCHNG.

Flickr

Flickr is an obvious resource, yet it is often neglected. Using the advanced search feature, you can search only photos with a Creative Commons license that allows you to use the content commercially and/or modify, adapt, or build upon the content. These two licenses in combination essentially make the image ‘public domain’ in that you can use it for anything. However, the license restriction is that you have to credit the original creator.

If you are looking for very specific images, you should check out the public domain image resources listed on Wikipedia. They feature historical images, as well as visual arts, logos, books, and more.

A site that has been recommended many times in comments to previous articles is morgueFile. Unfortunately, the site was very slow when I tested it, hence it is not properly included in this article.

For more royalty free image resources, check out the following articles:

Where do you get your public domain or royalty free images from?

Image credits: Petr Jilek

8+ Most Awesome Third-Party Flickr ‘Interestingness’ Apps

Ann Smarty — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 01:31:29 +0000

We have featured the Flickr Interestingness section in a few popular articles in the past. For example, Bakari created an inspirational post sharing the best “explored” Flickr photos and I mentioned the tool in my piece listing Flickr RSS tools.

It is quite obvious that we (as well as our readers) love the feature because it is unique and really smart. It’s been working wonders for discovering the most creative photography artwork and offering them great exposure. For me, Flickr Interestingness has always been a constant stream of inspiration.

This post looks at more Flickr Interestingness third-party tools created through the Flickr API:

1. Flickr Interestingness Search Tools

Flickriver

Flickriver is one of the most popular tools for searching the Flickr Interestingness section and viewing high-resolution images on a black background:

Set the photo size to view: minimum is 500-width; you can set to view the large size (when it is available) or to fit the screen;
See today’s, yesterday’s or the past week’s interesting photos or set the time frame:

Flickrleech

Flickrleech doesn’t have too many search options. Essentially what it does is retrieve interesting photos for a specified day. The good part about this tool is that it lists them all on one page (“Because paging sucks”) and allows you to change the thumbnail size:

GEOinterestingnness

This is both a fun and unique tool that breaks the Flickr interestingness photos into categories by country:

Multicolr

Multicolr is the visual Flickr “Interestingness” search engine and the most awesome tool for color-inspiration you’ll ever be able to find.

The tool lets you browse through “10 million” of Flickr’s most ‘interesting’ Creative Commons images using colors instead of words. You can choose up to 10 colors to mix in your search results’ color palette:

Flickr Explorer

This is the fun way to search Flickr Interestingness by username. Find out of any of your photos has been explored!

2. Flickr Interestingness Lean-Back Tools

Sometimes we are just too tired to actually browse. The following two tools will let you get inspired while doing nothing but watching.

Endless Interestingness

Endless Interestingness is the tool that does exactly what it is called: it creates an endless stream of thumbnails from Flickr “Interesting” section. Lean back and watch!

Anytime you click on a thumbnail that stands out from the crowd, you’ll be redirected to the image page on Flickr.

Gimme Shiny

This is a JavaScript slide-show of today’s most interesting photos from Flickr and popular images from deviantART, as well as the most recent images on FFFFOUND.

3. Flickr Interestingness Monitoring Tool

Weirdly enough, Flickr does not provide us with good tools to keep track of daily interesting photos. Therefore the users have had to build such a tool themselves. The result is the Flickr photo RSS that lets you subscribe to either one interesting photo or four photos a day.

That’s an amazing stream of daily inspiration (and one which is easy to scale!)

Bonus! Bring Flickr Interestingness To Your Desktop!

Would you like to get inspired each time you close all your windows and look at your desktop? I am sure you’ll find this tool awesome then! I got addicted to it as soon as I installed and ran it for the first time!

John’s Background Switcher is a cool little utility that runs in your system tray (down by the clock) and periodically changes the background image on your computer (every ten minutes, hourly, daily or weekly) to something interesting. This tool has turned my Windows desktop into a constant stream of inspiration.

Using “Settings” you can set it to use the Flickr Interestingness section as the source of background images as well as customize the frequency of updates.

Are there any other cool “Interestingness” tools you are aware of? Please let us know what you think!

How To Find Similar Images Using Google’s Image Search

Saikat Basu — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 15:31:21 +0000

My job as an editor and writer for MakeUseOf requires a constant search for images. Needless to say, I have quite a few links stashed away in my bookmarks folder. But it is often that I turn to Google Image Search to track down that elusive graphic.

Like all Google products, Google Image Search has continuously been tweaked and improved. The latest change comes to the Google Similar Images option. Google has put in a feature that now you can use to search for similar images across a single site. This is basically an improvement of Google’s site: operator which limits your searches to a particular domain.

But how does it help us exactly and what are the uses you can put this small improvement too? Let’s find out.

Google Similar Images: The Usual Run

Most of us are familiar with the process that goes into searching for similar images. Go to Google Image Search and type in a keyword for the image you are searching for. Next, it’s just a matter of mouse-over a specific image (for which you want similar images) and clicking on the Similar link.

Here’s what you get – a whole gallery of similar images to pick and choose from. Once you get the similar images, you can go for More Sizes and check out the other dimensions that are available.

Similar Images: Do a Google Image Search

To come back to the search update, you can use the similar search function as a combination with the site: operator. Use the operator as normally would. Let’s say: site:www.makeuseof.com linux. As you can see from the screenshot below, the gallery of images now are closer (or similar) to the base image.

The Advanced Search options also allow you to specify a domain and limit your search to a single site. But using it from the address bar saves you a few clicks and is definitely the easiest way to get that perfect image. But definitely dive into it if you need the other options available there.

Some Uses You Can Put It Too…

Taking a cue from Digital Inspiration’s article on the same subject, you can use the new feature to search for magazine covers across a domain like Time.com. I am using it to look for a variety of images which I can use as ‘album covers’ for my personal MP3 collection.

Google has also updated the index of similar images, so now you’ll find more recent results. That’s great if you are searching for images from newsworthy events. Especially, searching for a familiar celebrity (Of course, you will have a wider sweep if you remove the site: operator). The Official Google Blog demonstrates with Lady Gaga.

If you have any interest in gardening, the visual search by similarity is a great time saver when it comes to searching for a particular type of flower that you know only by color. It’s not perfect, but it helps to narrow down your options. The same logic applies to any other search distinguished by small differences.

Google Image Search represents one of the easiest ways to search for something visually. It can also be an exercise in creativity and fun. That’s what our two previous posts hinted at –

5 Creative Google Image Search Visualizations
10 Tips to Have Fun Using Advanced Google Search for Images

Apart from these top-of-the-head ideas, do you have more creative ideas that we run through Google Image Search? Share them with us.

The Top 5 Best Search Engines To Search Photos On Flickr

Steve Campbell — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 23:31:48 +0000

Do you have a Flickr account? We hear a lot of buzz these days about how many photos are being uploaded to Facebook on a daily basis, but people sometimes forget about Flickr, which is still going strong after all these years. Back in September, in fact, Flickr announced their 5 billionth photo being uploaded, which is no small feat.

So what if you want to look at or locate some of that photographic treasure? There are some great Flickr search engines out there. Ann pointed out 16 of them a few years back, and now I’m here to show you the best of the best. If you’re looking for a high quality photo for a project, article, website, or you’re just bored, these websites can help you find what you want.

1. Compfight

Compfight is a personal favorite among MUO writers. It’s a simple website both in form and function, and it works very well. With Compfight, type in your search query and you can select whether you want to search for that word in the tags of photos or their text descriptions.

You can also opt to look through Creative Commons images, which is important if you’re looking to use a photo for a project. Thumbnails of images will populate after you search and all you have to do is click on one to open up its corresponding Flickr page.

2. Tag Galaxy

Tag Galaxy probably could’ve been the worst Flickr search engine in existence and I still would’ve included it on this list simply because of how cool it is. Just type in your tag on the homepage and click Go to be taken to a search page showing what appear to be planets.

Clicking on the different planets will allow you to drill down your search to a specific tag. For example, I originally searched for the word ‘technology’ and planets named ‘computer’, ‘phone’, ‘laptop’, and ‘ipod’ showed up. Click the tag that most describes what you’re looking for and you will be taken to a 3D spherical image displaying all of the photos associated with that tag.

You can spin the sphere by dragging it and click on individual photos to see them zoomed in. Very cool.

3. Flickriver

Flickriver is another simple Flickr search engine. You can search photos, groups, users, tags, and even places, and photos are displayed vertically on the page according to relevance, most recent, or most interesting. You can also set the size at which photos are displayed on the page.

4. PictureSandbox

PictureSandbox isn’t one of the prettier sites on this list, but it is still very effective. Just type in your search on the homepage and click the Submit button to view photos on not only Flickr, but Stockxpert, Fotolia, Dreamstime, SmugMug, and Webshots as well. If you can’t find the photo you’re looking for on this site, chances are it doesn’t exist.

5. FlickrStorm

FlickrStorm is a very minimalistic photo search site. Like the others on this list, you simply type your search query into the box on the homepage to begin your search. There’s an “advanced” link that you can click if you would like to search for Creative Commons photos that you can use commercially.

With FlickrStorm, you can also view your history of the photos you’ve clicked on, as well as a tray that you can add photos to and download them from.

Honorable Mention: Flickr Flipper

I decided to give an honorable mention to Adobe’s Flickr Flipper application. It’s an application that runs on Adobe Air and it’s pretty lightweight. If you’re looking to flip through random Flickr photos because you’re either bored or not sure exactly what you’re looking for, you should give Flickr Flipper a try.

If you’re looking for more photos, you should also check out Saikat’s article on 5 Good Image Search Engines Apart From Google Image Search.

What’s your favorite way to view Flickr photos?

5 Creative Google Image Search Visualizations

Ann Smarty — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 01:30:21 +0000

Google Images search has two huge advantages over other image search engines: it operates the largest database on the web and it is getting smarter by the day. Apart from serving as a great source of content for your website, Google Images can be a powerful tool to find inspiration and spur creativity.

This post is about making you even more inspired with Google Image search results: it shares some really creative Google Images visualization projects that can both entertain and inspire.

1. Google Image Inspiration: Dreamlines

Dreamlines is an interesting project that deserves more recognition that it seems to be getting.

Just enter a couple of words that describe the topic you need inspiration for and wait for the tool “to generate an ambiguous painting, in perpetual change, where elements fuse into one another, in a process analogous to memory and free association“.

The tool uses Google Images Search to retrieve the images but in fact you’ll never see an actual image. What you will see is a dream:

The program generates a personal moving picture, unique, unpredictable, and forever gone when it is finished, just like dreams. But that dream is made out of pieces taken form the subconscious of the whole net, gathered by some words of the user and the obscure logic of searching algorithms.

It is both well-said and well-performed. I wish it could be turned into a video clip or screen saver because it looks too beautiful: try it yourself and see! And it does inspire a creative eye by letting you forget about everything and dive into the new abstract world of Dreamlines:

I was very much tempted to make hundreds of screenshots.

2. Google Image Art: Montage-a-Google

Montage-a-Google is a more straightforward project than the above one: it lets you create large, colorful montages using Google’s image search.

According to the creator, it allows for both an alternative, fun way to browse the Web and to create desktop wallpaper or even posters on the topic that inspires you.

Here’s my winter montage, for example:

And here are some posters created by the users:

3. Google Image Games: Guess-the-Google

Guess-the-Google is another project by the same developer as the Montage-a-Google project we have just covered. It offers a fun and somewhat addictive game to get your brain working.

The tool shows you a collection of images and you should quickly guess the search term that triggered the collection:

It turns the mental activity of searching into a fun, visual and engaging game where people can enjoy the challenge of being the fastest and most efficient at making that connection between search terms and their results.

4. Google Image Designs: Google House

Google House is an interesting concept offering you a chance to build a house using Google Images. It builds unpredictable, dynamic image collages using your house-related search queries.

I am not sure about the practical application of this one but it certainly offers a fun and addictive experience.

5. Honorable Mention: Google Swirl

A post about Google Images Search visualizations would be incomplete without including the official Google Labs project: Google Image Swirl (here’s MUO review of this cool image search from Google Labs) – it is more search-related than any of the projects listed above but it does spur creativity by creating and visualizing the structure of results based on their visual and semantic similarities.

Think of this as a huge family tree for images on the Internet: by clicking on images, more subsequent circles and related images are created.

For example, in ambiguous queries such as “machine”, Image Swirl separates the top search results into categories such as “automation”, “computers”, “robotics”, etc.

Are you aware of any interesting Google Image Search visualization projects? Please share them in the comments!

How To Search & Credit Properly-Licensed Photos On Flickr [Firefox]

Ann Smarty — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 01:31:26 +0000

Flickr is an amazing resource of creative images. It’s always been the main source of inspiration to me.

I once listed some awesome Flickr search tools that are HUGE fun to use and Nancy did a great job explaining how to upload and use Flickr photos the easy way.

This post takes a bit different focus: it attempts to make it clearer for everyone which Flickr photos they are allowed to re-use and how to easily find and credit them. Anyone who has a blog may have used images published on Flickr but not everyone knows how to properly do that.

You are only permitted to use images under Creative Commons with appropriate license.

The most common Creative Commons licenses you may see on Flickr are:

Note aside: You can read more about various licenses here, also you can hopefully understand what can and should be understood as “noncommercial” by joining the discussion here.

License/ Allowed:	Icon	Publish	Modify	Credit
Attribution-NoDerivs License		Yes (even for commercial use)	No	Yes (Required)
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License		Yes (not commercial)	No	Yes (Required)
*Attribution-ShareAlike License*		Yes (even for commercial use)	Yes	Yes (Required)

Now, with that in mind, let’s see how we can easily find and use properly-licensed images on Flickr:

1. Flickr Creative Commons Search On FireFox

1. Flickr CC (Most Interesting) (Small Thumbnails)

This search plugin by Callum MacDonald:

Searches through Flickr Creative Commons-licensed content,
Sorts images by “Most Interesting”
Forces Flickr to display small thumbnails for you to easier scroll through the search results.

Install the search plugin here

Results may be not exactly on topic (compared to sorted by relevant ones) but this search will work nicely to help you brainstorm and get you inspired.

2. Flickr CC BY Search

This one is a similar version to the above search plugin (it also forces small thumbnails and filters by Creative Commons-licensed content requiring attribution) but for a couple of essential differences:

It sorts by relevancy;
It is enhanced with search suggestions (powered by Google).

Install the search plugin here

This one will inspire you first by showing the related searches (which may expand your search) and then listing you small thumbnails of related images you can use on your site.

Flickr Creative Commons – Attribution Help

So we have that handy HTML code generated by Flickr that allows to quickly embed a Flickr-hosted image on any page (in any of available sizes).

However Creative Commons Attribution requires that images be credited the way the author prefers them to be and normally a person would like to be mentioned as the image creator. Besides, giving a credit to the image author is just polite.

Moreover, you often want to host the image locally – and that hosted code is pretty much useless in that case.

This handy Greasemonkey script will help you quickly grab the attribution HTML code: it will generate the proper credit HTML for you to quickly copy it to your page:

When added to a page, this will look the following way:

I am sure, as a blogger and / or active web surfer, you have lots of your own tricks and tips on finding and re-publishing awesome Flickr photos. It would be great to share some of them in the comments!

Post image by openDemocracy

TouchGraph – Visual Search for “Similar” Results

Ann Smarty — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 01:30:02 +0000

If you search a lot (to collect information for blogging, research and inspiration), you may know that in many cases “words” are not enough to help you find what you need.Very often, you really don’t know what exactly you are looking for and you can’t describe it in words – in this case, you need other search tools apart from Google, Twitter and other word-based search engines.

We have already mentioned some tools and tricks to help you search without words: we have listed some Google search tricks that allow you to find something when you really don’t know what you are looking for. We have also seen some image search tools that search by color and / or similarity (instead of words).

Today we are looking at another alternative way to do a visual search – Touch Graph which is based on Google’s RELATED: search operator.

First, let’s make it clear how the RELATED: operator works

Google is a bit too general when it comes to explaining how things work. For this operator, all it says it that:

The query [related:] will list web pages that are “similar” to a specified web page. For instance, [related:www.google.com] will list web pages that are similar to the Google homepage. Note there can be no space between the “related:” and the web page URL.

How it really works is a mystery but the general (educated and proved by tests) theory is that it is based on two main factors:

Co-citation: if two pages have similar backlinks, they are related. It means that if several pages all cite and link to pages A and B, the latter are considered to be “similar”.
Thematic relevance: it seems like Google has also started to apply some thematic relevance when it comes to filtering pages with common backlinks.

You can see the RELATED: operator in action by clicking through “Similar” link next to each listing in Google search results page:

Now, back to the Touch Graph

TouchGraph Google Browser is an amazing free tool that lets people visualize the ways in which websites are connected through the use of Google’s RELATED: advanced operator.

So if you, for example, have stumbled upon a great tool (let’s say it’s “Xenu’s Link Sleuth” in our experiment) and want to find more similar apps, you can use TouchGraph to visualize your search.

We can do both ways: search by URL or by the tool name. Let’s start from the URL-based search to make things easier.

Search based on a URL

Searching for a URL will retrieve top 10 similar pages for that URL and then retrieve 10 more similar pages for each of those pages. So in the end we have a network of results – all of which are related (both directly and indirectly) to your initial one.

The graph is built of clusters represented by colors. Clusters are built of similar pages. Thus, in our case, we can see very similar tools to Xenu in red (and similar tools of those similar tools – are you still following me? – in blue and green):

As you can see, the results are pretty exciting as the names we notice include “dead links”, “w3 validator” and other quite relevant tools. The app can then be also used for inspiration and research.

Obviously, you can play with the results to your heart’s content:

Click any of the results to see the details in top-left corner (“Info” tab)
You can expand any of the graph and load similar pages for the one you chose;
Use “Filter” tab to navigate the graph with table-like format:

Besides that, individual web-bubbles can be moved around to make the representation clearer to the person working with the TouchGraph. Furthermore, users have the option of selecting specific clusters and removing all the other clusters from the graph by choosing the “Keep Selected” option, which can prove to be extremely useful when trying to perform pinpointed research without getting distracted.

Search based on a name / keyword

If you want to base your search on the name (instead of URL), the tool will first retrieve 10 regular results from Google and then 10 similar pages for each. In our example, we get lots of Xenu reviews and similar articles – which could also work well to expand your web research:

In either case, the tool is really a great idea and it can be very helpful:

When used for inspiration;
As an alternative source to expand your research.

What are your thoughts? Do you feel like giving the tool a try?

20 Great Resources to Download Free Patterns

Nancy Messieh — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 22:30:27 +0000

If you’re designing a new website or looking for a cool twitter background, coming up with an interesting pattern is essential for adding some eyecandy to your page. If you can’t create that pattern yourself, there are lots of great resources available online for downloading patterns for free that you can use for commercial or non-commercial use.

We’ve compiled a list of websites where you can find pretty much any kind of pattern, search by colour, by theme, or simply browse through the images until you find what you want.

DinPattern

DinPattern is updated every few days with new patterns. Images are available in .gif format, and are free to use in commercial or non-commercial websites, but permission is required to use the patterns in any printed materials.

SquidFingers

SquidFingers has a small collection of patterns available in .gif format. They are free to download and use, but a credit link back to the site is always appreciated.

K10K

K10K has almost 1000 pixellated patterns available for download. Browse the patterns by the most recent patterns, by popularity or randomly. If you design your own patterns, you can also submit them to be featured on the site.

BG Patterns

BG Patterns is a popular resource for designing your own pattern. Choose the background colour, the image and its placement, and download it as a .jpg. BG Patterns sets itself apart because you have more control over the pattern’s appearance, rather than download a ready made pattern.

Tile Machine

The Tile Machine gallery is powered by its users, and has thousands of pixellated patterns available for download. Browse through the huge collection or search by artist.

Brusheezy

Brusheezy has hundreds of free Photoshop patterns available for download. You can browse patterns by compatibility with your version of Photoshop, and sort by date, popularity or rating.

ava7patterns

Ava7patterns can be browsed by colour or the shapes used. Alternatively, you can also browse the most downloaded, most commented or top rated patterns. The patterns are free to use, and a credit link is not required but appreciated.

The Design Inspiration

The Design Inspiration aggregates hundreds of patterns from other websites, available for free download. There is no easy way to search of browse the patterns, but the quality of the patterns more than makes up for this.

Pattern8

Pattern8 has a small but gorgeous collection of patterns available for free download. Browse the collection by colour, search for a specific term, or by the highest rated patterns.

FBrushes

FBrushes is a resource for more than just patterns, with sections featuring brushes and textures as well. The collection is small and are downloaded in sets ranging from 7 to 54 patterns.

Background Labs

Background Labs’ patterns can be browsed by colour, category or by tags. They also have a section of interesting twitter backgrounds.

Fractured Sanity

Fractured Sanity is a good resource for patterns, fonts, textures and brushes. The patterns are free to use and alter, but cannot be used commercially without prior permission. The collection can only be browsed by colour.

Portfelia

Portfelia has a small but impressive collection of patterns available for download. Use of the patterns must be credited, and they can only be used for non-commercial projects.

Adobe Photoshop Patterns

The Adobe website has over 200 sets of patterns and textures to choose from. You can browse them by most recent, most popular or highest rated.

Pixel Decor

Pixel Decor has a fabulous collection of retro patterns available for free download. The patterns can only be used in non commercial websites. Browse the patterns by style and log in with the provided username and password to download the files.

Patterns of Change

Patterns of Change allows you to use their patterns for free provided that you include a credit link, and if they are used in any commercial websites, you have to make donations to the charity, Action Against Hunger. The high quality patterns can be browsed by colour or shape.

Pattern Head

Pattern Head is set up as a blog, offering free pattern sets for download. The patterns are varied from geometric to grunge to floral. Browse by tag, or search for the patterns of your choice.

DeviantArt

DeviantArt is another great resource for patterns, but you have to check each contributors conditions for their free use. The patterns can be browsed most recent or most popular.

If you’re just looking for a quick and easy way to create a Twitter background, you could also use the free service provided by Themeleon.

Where do you get your free patterns? Let us know in the comments.

Search For Similar Images Online Using Images Rather Than Keywords

Ann Smarty — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 01:31:18 +0000

The ways we search for information online are constantly evolving. One of the most interesting (comparatively) new methods currently being developed by companies around the web revolves around the idea of using images as a basis for search queries.

Of course we already have a plethora of color-based image search engines as well as other fun search tools we have been reviewing from time to time, but most of them have one thing in common: the keyword comes first: we use words to search.

This post is about another type of search: where an image comes first.

By using images as a basis for queries the new advanced image search tools coming out of development are able to provide a totally different (beyond the advanced) type of experience.

As the technology is still in its infancy, various developers are working on specific kinds of practical applications for this type of search. The three services that I think currently put the concept to its best uses are:

1. BYO Image Search Lab

The BYO Image Search Lab was one of the earliest image-based search engines to appear online. Users can:

either use a base image from their PC as a starting point for a search,
or they can use a URL path from an online image instead.

The engine than produces a batch of relatively similar pictures based primarily on the color similarity, though it does have some success when it comes to prioritizing results that match or contain similar elements (form and theme similarity).

2. Gazopa

Following hot on the heels of BYO comes Gazopa (find the MUO Gazopa review here) which, like its rival, is a tool for matching images with similar ones. Like with BYO, user’s can either upload a picture or get one from the Internet to initiate the search.

However, it seems that by basing its results more on shape outlines than color, the results shown are a lot more like the original image searched for (as compared to the above tool):

3. TinEye

TinEye (find the MUO TinEye review here) is a tool being developed by the same company behind BYO (IdÃ©e). It is available as an addon for the four major browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari), which, when installed, allows users to search for images on the web that exactly match the image used to start the search.

TinEye seems to be focused on exact matches (looking for images that look exactly the same).

TinEye can tell if pictures at a different resolution still match the initial query, which makes it a really great piece of software for keeping track of any copyrighted or personal (potentially embarrassing) images of yours that may be circulating around the web.

So how can you actually use these tools? The opportunities are plenty:

Use these tools to check who has stolen your copyright images;
Use these tools to track down people’s avatars and find more places to connect to them;
Use these tools to check where the competition is buying advertising space.
Use these tools for design inspiration when stuck (when you know how something may look like but can’t describe it in words)
What’s more?

Have you come across any image-based search tools that are more advanced than the ones I’ve mentioned here ? Let me know if you have.

Post image source: Flickr